TV Appearance Talking Egyptian and US Economics on Russia Today

February 3, 2011

Richard Eskow

Here’s a clip of our appearance on the Russia Today network to discuss the economies of Egypt and the United States. It felt very important, while pointing out the possibly surprising similarities, to also point out their greater hardships and dangers – especially now, while they’re showing so much courage.

The Egypt discussion allowed us to point out the risks of “austerity economics” and the problems that can arise when economic policy places a premature emphasis on deficits at times when growth and jobs investment are needed; and to point out the parallels between Egyptian and US decisions to offer tax cuts for high-earning individuals and corporations while more stimulus is still needed.

The other panelist was Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy. The entire discussion lasted fifteen minutes. For those who only want to see our participation, we were the lead-off commentator and reappeared at 7 minutes and 45 seconds (where, you may notice, I didn’t answer a question for which I felt unqualified). Here it is: